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Pre-Teen Brothers Guilty of Vicious Attack

It is not unusual to hear in the news about victims of brutal attacks. This story however shows the depths of depravity and inhumanity that some people are capable of perpetrating on others. The various acts of torture, abuse and forced sexual activity are in themselves cause to recoil; but the realization that neither the victims nor the attackers had even reached puberty should make each and every one of us pause and say — WTF!!?!

Two brothers in Britain aged 10 and 12, from the town of Edlington, near Doncaster, pleaded guilty to luring two young boys, aged 9 and 10, into a secluded area of woodland and ravines to see some animals — and then torturing them in an attack so violent it left one of the victims pleading to be left alone to die.

The two young boys were robbed, beaten with sticks and stones, stabbed, burned with cigarettes, forced to eat nettles, had their genitals stomped on, forced to have sex with each other and told to commit suicide as part of their grotesque torture.

Prosecutors charged the two aggressors with attempted murder but, so as to spare the two young victims the further trauma of having to testify in court, accepted lesser charges of robbery, intentionally causing grievous bodily harm and causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

This was not the first time the brothers had been in trouble. They in fact both had a history of violence. The 12-year-old had already appeared in court four times for acts of violence. His younger brother had been reprimanded for a variety of crimes, including assault.

The names of all the boys involved have been withheld due to their ages. However, in my opinion, the crimes that the two brothers committed were so horrible and adult-like that their names and addresses should be made public and published so that the world can be wary of two monsters that walk among us.

Below is a copy the news report widely distributed in the media.

9/3/2009, 9:20 p.m. EDT

RAPHAEL G. SATTER

The Associated Press

(AP) — LONDON – A pair of British brothers pleaded guilty Thursday to luring two young boys into a clearing to see some animals-and then torturing them in an attack so violent it left one of the victims pleading to be left alone to die.

The attackers, aged 10 and 11 at the time, robbed, beat, and stabbed their victims with sticks and bricks. One child, aged 10, had a sink thrown on to his head, while his nephew, aged 9, was forced to eat nettles. At one point the young tormentors tried to force the victims to have sex with each another.

None of the children can be named for legal reasons.

So violent was the attack that prosecutors charged the aggressors with attempted murder-making them some of the youngest ever accused of such a crime in Britain. Media here compared the case to the shocking death of James Bulger, a 2-year-old abducted from a shopping center near Liverpool in 1993 by two 10-year-olds who punched him, beat him with bricks and hit him with an iron bar before leaving his body on a railroad track.

Britain’s prime minister weighed in, calling the case “disturbing.”

The pair denied attempted murder, but admitted lesser charges of robbery, intentionally causing grievous bodily harm and causing a child to engage in sexual activity. Prosecutors at Sheffield Crown Court, in northern England, said they would accept the pleas, in part to spare the young victims the ordeal of a trial.

The April 4 assault came to light when a group of girls in the former English mining town of Edlington found the 9-year-old stumbling around, spattered in blood, with a cut on his arm which went down to the bone. His uncle was later found unconscious, naked from the waist down, with a large cut to the head and bruising around his neck.

Prosecutor Graham Measures told an earlier hearing that the younger boy said he and his uncle went to a secluded area of woodland and ravines with the brothers, who said they wanted to show them some toads and foxes.

It was then that the brothers turned on their victims, stealing a small amount of cash and a cell phone. They then began beating them with sticks and bricks, at one point stabbing the younger child in the arm and then jamming cigarettes into the gaping wound. His genitals were stamped on, and his eyelids were burned with cigarettes. He was forced to smoke, eat nettles and then ordered to commit suicide.

He said he then picked up a stick and put it into his mouth to convince his attackers he was harming himself.

The uncle received even harsher treatment, having a broken sink smashed against his head and a noose rung around his neck. The younger brother told police that his uncle pleaded with the attackers, saying: “Leave me, I can’t see. Leave me to die.”

The 9-year-old said the attack only ended when the brothers said they had to go to meet their stepfather-although one brother warned his sibling that they should not leave before killing their victims.

The brothers had a history of violence. The 11-year-old, now 12, had already appeared in court four times for acts of violence. His younger brother had been reprimanded for a variety of crimes, including assault.

They lived with five other male siblings and their 36-year-old mother in a run-down home on a different part of town before being moved to a foster home in Edlington about a month before the attack.